Mammon, Lord of the Third
Mammon, sometimes referred to as Minauros, is the lord of the identically named Minauros, third layer of Hell, and potentially the richest being in existence. Both literally and figuratively two-faced, the archdevil viscount is a feckless miser whose only loyalty was to coin.
“The count of my coins is more reliable than any roster of mortal hearts or immortal souls.” — Mammon
Description
Mammon's original form was traditionally infernal, a 12 ft tall creature that resembled a flabby pit fiend with scaly, red-gold skin and wings that are as lustrous as rubies. Although still able to assume his old form, Mammon's natural appearance has eventually changed into one resembling certain yuan-ti halfbloods, albeit 30 ft long. His lower half is that of an enormous, spotted serpent with yellow-brown skin comparable to swirled vomit, while his upper half sports a muscular humanoid torso with bony spines protruding across his shoulders and along his large arms. His horned, hairless head is similarly humanoid but seems oversized. Some said his eyes are yellow and slitted like a snake, while others report that his eyes are pale and pupilless although his vision seems nonetheless sharp. Below his white eyes are hideous black lips, behind which lay his pointed teeth, two serpentine fangs, and a forked tongue that gives him his hissing, whispering voice.Personality
Mammon is an utterly selfish entity that practically personifies greed with his insatiable desire. He is a ruthless hunter who will unrelentingly pursue his prey, whether it be an actual quarry or future possessions, but is indifferent to his prize once it was actually obtained, and will swiftly move on to new targets. While his cupidity isn't limited to currency, Mammon is wholly materialistic and measures worth in regards to monetary value. He makes deals solely for the purpose of making profit and otherwise didn't care about the results of the exchange. Alongside being avaricious, Mammon is also megalomaniacal, lusting after power and always scheming to acquire more of it. The methods required to achieve his goals are irrelevant to Mammon, and he would perform whatever act he believes necessary to accomplish them. The duplicitous viscount will seduce his victims with silver-tongued promises before wantonly and gleefully watching their expressions when he betrays them. The Serpent's speech could be compared to his schemes in their convoluted nature, for it is riddled with winding messages and unclear requests, meandering even when he is supposed to be delivering orders. Mammon is not only sinister but shameless, keeping his position primarily by acts of bootlicking sycophantism most charitably described as embarrassing. His pathetic groveling before his master is as renowned as his arrogant condescension towards his own inferiors. Mammon's host of other flaws include his overactive paranoia that drives him in his craven and often foolish pursuit of loyal servants. His typical response to frustration, such as if he feels his time was wasted, is to alleviate the feeling by destroying the offender or otherwise tormenting unrelated parties. This is combined with his petty, oversensitive demeanor and overindulgent hedonism to make a being that is practically impossible to work with. No matter how competent the tyrant, it is impossible to stay on Mammon's good side for he has no such thing.Powers
Mammon has various spell-like abilities such as fool's gold or teleport, and other powers that allow him to bewitch and confound. He is a cautious fighter, yet enjoys toying with his prey by magically deceiving them into considering him an ally before suddenly killing them. If he desires, the touch of Mammon's hands can sever bonds between people, whether formal, friendly or familial, driving them to randomly attack and steal from their allies in an outburst of greed, possibly including Mammon himself. He can produce a symbol of hopelessness and utter an unholy word once per day, surround himself with an aura of fear and inspire terror in others with his gaze. Alongside more powerful devils like pit fiends, gelugons and cornugons, he is also known to summon barbazus, hamatulas, osyluths, and green abishai. Mammon can easily and indefinitely adopt his previous pit fiend form, allowing him to strike down his foes with greater speed at the cost of the abilities exclusive to his serpentine form. Despite his wily behavior, he can also be somewhat brutish, crushing and constricting his enemies through sheer, overwhelming power. Once restrained, he could easily use his fangs to inject his adversaries with a disease-laden venom. The wasting poison is similar to mummy rot but acts much faster and can't be stopped with anything short of a heal spell.Possessions
Mammon is known to wield various types of enchanted spears.Realm
Mammon's realm of Minauros is a murky, miserable mire plagued by perpetual rain. The fetid, blackened dirt has been melted into cesspools and marshes by the precipitation of oily sludge, occasionally accompanied by hailstones of polluted ice mixed with metal shards and teeth. The only light source arises from the stinking clouds of yellow-green swamp gas and heat can only be found underground, turning some spots of otherwise cold water into geysers of mud. Various foul odors bubble up from the putrid waters, and intaking the contaminated ooze is an easy way to catch a horrible disease. Closer to the center of Minauros are rifts filled with slime and ash-spewing volcanoes. It is said that Minauros was built upon the bodies of the dead, and indeed the blighted bog is littered with carrion and bones. Trying to navigate the murky layer can lead to accidentally tripping over the scattered remains of the dead or falling into a sinkhole. Amorphous lemures and cowardly spinagons are abundant in the swamp due to Mammon's paranoia and short temper forcing him to keep plentiful supplies of worthless devils nearby in case he needs to spontaneously fire someone important. Pitiful, demoted nupperibos can also be found blindly slogging through the filth, along with lesser devils seeking to redeem themselves in Mammon's eyes.Society
The civilization of Minauros is always on the edge of collapse, filled with cyclopean cities of well-carved stone and once grand fortresses perpetually submerging further into the mud. The newer structures showcase second-rate materials and shoddy construction techniques, and so constantly have to be repaired, redone or entirely replaced. The capital city that Minauros was named after is also referred to as the Sinking City due to its ever-descending nature; it would only take a few millennia for the world-sized city to fully sink into the frigid muck. It is thought that all of the original structures of the city have fallen long ago, and that some have been stolen from other layers. What streets aren't made of uneasy, buckling paving stones that could make wheeled travel impossible at times were merely large stones that were always being replaced when they inevitably sunk beyond vision. The architects attempt to alleviate the effects of the hail by building large canopies, but this only increases the frequency with which the teetering buildings collapse thanks to the precariously placed pillars that are their shifting foundation. Teams of lower class devils repurpose the debris to be used in the foundations and often fight, sometimes to the death or to the point of critical injury, on who would get the stones. Even Mammon's home, a golden, gem-studded palace, more comparable to a mausoleum than a dwelling, has been slowly sinking into the scummy soup from its haphazard position. The reason for the dismal state of Minauros is that Mammon's greed is as bottomless as the swamp. His nameless residence itself is built out of exotic black stones, likely brought from Eldarr, is crowded with innumerable, treasures and anything of worth within the layer is swiftly destroyed or taken inside the pillared halls. Yet despite his immeasurable levels of wealth, Mammon seems uninterested in the well-being of his own domain and unwilling to invest more than the minimal amount of wealth needed to perform maintenance, even in regards to the practical upkeep of his home. Normally stone is saved for the construction of prison cells, which in reality are simply pits in the marsh with rocks at the bottom and chains tying them to a higher surface, while the money in his treasury is only ever used to keep the soul market of Minauros functional. The Sinking City is one of the most bustling, robust soul markets in the planes, where heinous devils and worse mortals acts as functionaries for those wishing to prove their worth to the Viscount of Minauros.Activities
Mammon rarely leaves the Sinking City as he prefers to rule his domain from a singular location, although normally he isn't actually supervising the realm. Instead, a majority of his time is spent under the corrupted depths where he devises new, nefarious schemes. Like his peers, he covets the crown of Asmodeus and plots to overthrow him, but where he differs from them is that he doesn't bother with treacherous Devil politics and instead conspires to enrich himself. He wastes no time sleeping, devoting every second to his money-making machinations so as to increase his unwieldly income rate. Mammon's primary method of influence is through the use of his overwhelming wealth. In exchange for items and services that he wants, he offers financial loans and sometimes hired mercenaries to fend off particularly dangerous demonic hordes with the expectation of receiving the invader's loot. Where the River Styx sluggishly slogs through Minauros, there are soul collectors of Mammon on the banks to drag off the lemures within, recording and redistributing them based on contracts and current laws. The King of Avarice is one of the few archdevils willing to barter in gold as opposed to souls and any surplus petitioners are appropriated and sold for money. When Mammon is angry or needs to relax, he will revert to his pit fiend form, mount his massive nightmare, release a pack of larger than average hell hounds and go on a trophy-taking hunt. Devilish deserters are the most frequent quarry but wandering mortals are also fair game.Relationships
Despite being one of the Lords of the Nine, Mammon is considered a lesser archdevil in Hell's political sphere. He is hopelessly lacking in allies among the other Lords of the Nine, and even Tiamat despises him for stealing some of her dragon worshipers by appealing to their greed. Though he was once in an alliance with Dispater, and by extension Mephistopheles, he likely never trusted the Iron Duke in the first place. He almost instantly begins groveling before Asmodeus the moment the Overlord appears, betraying both his partners without a second thought, thus earning him the suspicion and scorn of every other archdevil. Mammon has a particularly complex relationship with the relatively new archdevil and his former consort, Glasya. It is said that her position as Mammon's concubine wasn't something she had set out to claim, but a form of punishment placed upon her by Asmodeus. The spoilt Princess of Hell, accustomed to the comforts of Nessus, was forced to endure the disgusting advances of the Serpent and the backwater slum that was his layer. Still, others posit that she came to Minauros willingly, possibly out of some form of genuine affection or merely as a way to annoy the other archdevils, particularly her father, before the Lord of Nessus broke off their relationship.[18][19] Mammon puts up little to no resistance against Asmodeus's demands, possibly earning Glasya's scorn, and his attitude towards his former consort is similarly enigmatic. On one hand, he is potentially embittered towards her for her supposed manipulation and frightened of her rise to archduchess, but on the other hand he is thought to want her at his feet when he conquers the Nine Hells. Whether or not the two have rekindled their old spark outside of Asmodeus's eye or still passionately resent each other is truly unknown, although given the twisted nature of infernal, romantic intrigue and the backwards, devilish approach to relationships, both could be true.Dukes
While Mammon is the master of Minauros in name, he often neglects it, leaving such matters to his seneschal Focalor. Respectful but silent, Focalar handles the administration, diplomacy, and security of Minauros in his master's absence, as well as the protection of Glasya during her time as his consort. Despite appearing completely loyal, having resisted the constant temptations by rival archdevils to win him over to their side, Focalar hates his master for his incompetence and irresponsibility. He willingly worked with Glasya when he was her bodyguard, using his actual awareness of the political sphere to undermine Mammon with intent to destroy him. Mammon was also reliant on his powerful vassal dukes, who dwell far from the Sinking City amidst dead woods and volcanoes, to protect the realm. His chief vassal is the Bronze General Bael, a tactical mastermind whose unending triumph over Abyssal legions with his 66 barbazu companies earns him great acclaim. Although he struggles with devilish politics, Bael still plots to takeover Minauros by overthrowing both Focalor and Mammon. Other important servants included Caarcrinolaas, a duke aware but seemingly indifferent to Bael's motives; Melchon, an outwardly loyal duke that has earned Focalor's suspicion; and Glwa, a new, obscure consort. It is believed that, without the wisdom of Focalor, the military genius of Bael, and the strength of his other dukes, Mammon would be an easily supplanted adversary. Ironically, despite his dependency on his dukes and the political minefield his court has became as a result of his paranoia, the unworthy archdevil's servitors all seemingly scheme to dethrone him. While the lesser leaders, Caarcrinolaas and Melchon, both independently conspire to murder Bael to seize his forces with the hope of using them to defeat Mammon, Focalor, along with Glwa, plan to use the Bronze General to their advantage by forcing him into a situation where he would have to overthrow their master. Afterwards, Focalor would be the power behind the throne, puppeteering the new archdevil from the shadows.Servants
Desiring absolute loyalty from his servants, Mammon surrounds himself with devils known for their obedience. Brutish barbazus are common, used to haul carts and sometimes to trade between other circles of the Nine Hells in search of souls worthy of becoming narzugons. Despite their hatred for Minauros's humidity, his armies are led by gelugons and are mostly comprised of osyluths and hamatulas. Hamatulas in particular are prevalent throughout Minauros, partly as a result of the large distance that petitioners have to travel in order to harvest stone from the volcanoes making them liable to escape. When prisoners escape, sometimes being intentionally released by a hamatula to hunt them for sport, Focalor or Mammon have to go after them personally if their minions were incapable of recapturing or killing them. Mammon's minions are experts in transactions involving the soul, but even such experienced harvesters often find themselves shocked at the low prices for which immortal souls are offered. Using a guidebook known as The Accounting and Valuation of All Things, they can assess a soul's value in relation to various other goods, allowing for a minimal drain on Mammon's treasury. They generally attempt to imitate his behavior in the hopes of winning his good will, and their shared traits include greed. Normally devils only view treasure as a useful tool to be discarded as needed, but Mammon's agents might take moderate and even extreme risks just to protect their gold.Worshipers
“If you must make a deal with a Devil, Mammon might be your best option. Unfortunately, you need the wealth of a dozen kingdoms to close the deal if you don't want to offer your soul."— Tersoul Mammon's area of expertise is not diplomacy but the soul trade, and after realizing his inability to form new relationships with the major figures of Hell, he devotes himself to it further. Of all the archdevils, his efforts to reap souls has always proven to be the most bountiful, and he does so, as one might expect, with his raw affluence. As patron of the greedy and lustful, Mammon draws in the materialistic mortals that not only desire the pleasures of wealth but the pleasure of denying it to others, spreading their avarice like a virulent plague. He also, based on the principle that "money is the root of all evil", incites the rich and powerful into abandoning acts of charity, sabotaging industries, and bankrupting once prosperous nations. In his mission to cause economic collapse, he has sent a vast number of his devils to mortal realms, each desperate to sow desperation and send the millions in destabilized regions to Minauros. Like Mammon himself, his followers excel at managing relations between groups by two-facedly switching between attitudes. They will stoop to any tactic, no matter how humiliating, awkward, or otherwise unpleasant, to get what they want, flipping between merciless violence and cowardly retreats in an instant. Completely lacking in shame, they conversely have no honor—lying, cheating, and stealing as needed. Rarely can they operate within a group of supposed allies before quickly betraying them in order to get ahead, avoiding personal risk by sacrificing their companions. Such reputation, along with other unsavory behaviors, force them to live a con artist's life of constant, solemn travel, moving on before word of their infamy catches on in the local area. Mammon's influence on Eldarr isn't limited to lone scammers, for he also has widespread cults among the gnomes and halflings. Having gained exorbitant wealth from dirty dealings, coercion, and extortion, such cultists can be found in every city and in thieves,merchant or trade guilds. The powers offered by Mammon allow his followers to thieve and deceive with almost supernatural skill, grasping unkept items from several feet away and manipulating the idea of value and where it lay in the minds of others. Races typically found underneath Mammon included duergar and goblinoids, along with several less conventional worshipers like beholders. Illithids are also in his ranks to the point where he has a special team of information gatherers comprised of them, as well as the more interactive of evil dragons, them being his most favored followers.Rituals
Mammonian cult initiation requires the neophyte to betray their closest friend for personal gain and perform a perverse ritual as demeaning as it is disgusting. Such behavior is in line with the gross service provenly loyal cultists would have to endure if invited to Mammon's court. While horrendous, attending his court could curry wealth beyond the imagination of mortals. Mammonian clerics, also known as covetors, wear gold-trimmed red robes and golden ornamentation. Rogues and bards, typically those interested in money rather than murder, can also occasionally be found as his disciples. Mammon's temple are obscenely ornate and ungodly gaudy, showcasing so much treasure that the raw garishness borders on ridiculous. True to Mammon's nature, the lairs and implements within aren't so much tools to protect their wealth but wealth that also performs a function. From the altars, to the sacrificial daggers, to the temples themselves, almost everything is made of gold and adorned with gemstones. Cultists prosper by using temples as locations for back-alley deals, conspiring together and making commercial pacts within that carry out into the wider world. Temples are chock full of wards, traps and guardians appropriate for defending such riches, often the types of non-humanoid monsters that served as Mammon's cultists.Aspects
Mammon's aspects are abundant in Eldarr, often under the guise of a yuan-ti, spreading and encouraging avarice in order to more easily manipulate mortals. They find sunny climates unpleasant, being used to the polluted dampness of Minauros, and are rarely found in natural settings. Instead they lurk in urban areas, anywhere from behind the walls of the Gates of Zarn, to the streets of Endrigia, to the alleys of Arkham. Even in terms of fighting, they are greedy creatures with a "me first" attitude that impedes their ability to work in concert with their servants. Part of the reason for their rapaciousness, outside of it being in their nature, is that they have no possessions outside of special gear given for their assignment; all other acquired goods are sent to Mammon, leaving them with nothing but unfulfilled desire.
Alignment
Lawful evil
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